I met James during the last few weeks I spent in Phnom Penh. This was on the news here in Oregon just a few weeks ago, and I am so thankful that injustices like this and the people who do something about them could be on the news here; and therefore raising awareness and educating more and more Americans. Please read this article!
11:09 AM PDT on Monday, March 17, 2008
By WAYNE HAVRELLY, for kgw.com
As the Pond family sits around the dining room table playing trivial pursuit, they appear to be the typical American family.
They’re not. Anything that was typical changed forever after watching a Dateline NBC investigation four years ago. The story about Cambodian children being sold to sex peddlers touched the family so deeply, James Pond, a father three, quit his six figure sales job and traveled to Cambodia to see what could be done to help.
“We were seeing pedophiles walking up and down the riverfront purchasing kids," James Pond said. Pond knew he could make a difference, but only if his family wanted the same thing. “We were trying to teach our kids you can do more in life and we should all be helping others, but we really didn’t have an outlet for that before this,” his wife, Athena, said.
It was a unanimous vote, so the Ponds sold nearly everything they owned and moved to Cambodia to open a transitional housing center for girls rescued from brothels. Fourteen-year-old Srey Neth was sold by her mother for $300.
“Her virginity was sold a week later for the same $300 she was sold for. After that, she was forced into a brothel where she saw 10 to 20 men a day," said James Pond. Neth was rescued. After two years with the Pond family, she's now working for their Oregon-based charity called Transitions Cambodia. “She's not just our voice, she's the voice of every girl that’s ever been through something like this,” said Pond. Transitions Cambodia now provides shelter, support and vocational training to about 20 rescued girls each year. The Ponds run the charity from their Hillsboro home. They have a staff of ten running the program in Cambodia. They recently moved back to the US to raise awareness about the child sex issue. They hope that will lead to more financial support, which will enable them to open even more shelters in Cambodia and other countries around the world. They said what started out as an idea after watching Dateline NBC has turned into a lifetime commitment. They hope to create awareness on a large scale starting in Portland and spreading all across America.
For more information go to the charities website at:
Transitionscambodia.org
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